A prolonged drought has left millions of Ethiopians without a harvest to feed their families. Young children are very undernourished and mothers are too weak to breastfeed their babies. The Wolayita Region was one of the hardest hit areas of the food crisis.
By the Summer of 2008, some places only had 3 days of rain in the last 12 months. The drought has also affected neighbouring Kenya and Somalia. Crops have failed, prices have soared and food is running out.
Usually households produce 90% of their own food and get 20% of income from selling crops. These families are now extremely vulnerable and severely malnourished. Seed stocks have either been eaten or sold/exchanged for food. There are little or no seed reserves left. People are begging and selling their tools and possessions to buy food. In some areas whole families are uprooting and migrating in search of employment.

Every year many areas of Ethiopia suffer from food insecurity because of erratic/non existent rainfall causing drought and failed crops. Other factors include poor farming techniques, degraded land, pests and conflict - resulting in millions of people in need of emergency inputs on all levels. The Ethiopian Government has a programme in place which provides cash and food (7 million beneficiaries in 2008) but this has not met the need - a further 4.5 million people are in dire need of emergency assistance.

Beneficiaries: 2,500 households (approximately 12,500 people).
Providing the people of this district with timely short cycle seeds of Haricot beans will ensure that they have a harvest (weather permitting) and therefore food to eat.

Financed through Concern Worldwide (London, UK) as part of a much larger aid for Ethiopia distribution programme.